Early Voting Passes 46 Million Ballots Nationwide, an Election Lab Midterm Record With Four Days to Go
The University of Florida Election Lab counted more than 46 million early ballots by Friday - past the AP's 43 million tally earlier in the day - as early voting closed in Texas and Georgia.
More than 46 million Americans have now voted early in the 2026 midterm elections, by mail or in person, according to the University of Florida Election Lab's tracker as of Friday, October 30 - a midterm record with Election Day still four days away. The figure moved through the day: the Associated Press's analysis earlier Friday put the early vote at more than 43 million across 47 states and Washington, D.C., already nearly 10 million more than at the same point in 2022. Totals vary slightly by tracker as states report new data, and both counters will keep moving as the final early ballots are filed over the weekend.
The big states are carrying the surge. Texas had more than 6.3 million early votes as of Wednesday on the AP's count - its own trackers have since counted past 6.8 million - and Florida stands at about 4.5 million and North Carolina about 2.4 million on the OnPoint Politics figures the Election Lab summary cites. Early voting closed Friday in Texas and Georgia, two of the states with the most-watched Senate races in the country. Advance voting is up more than 30 percent from the same point four years ago in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas as well, the AP reported - all states with competitive Senate contests on Tuesday's ballot.
The numbers measure who is voting, not who they are voting for. In the states that report party affiliation, the AP counted about 6.8 million Democrats and 5.2 million Republicans among the early voters; those figures cover only part of the country and say nothing about which candidates the ballots named. What the 46 million does settle is turnout: the 2026 midterm electorate is showing up early at a scale no midterm has reached before, and the remaining question - how many more arrive on Tuesday, November 3 - is the one that decides control of Congress.
